The Oldest Question
by Amandyta012
Summary: What would you do if your favorite TV character jumped out of your television screen? That's what happened to Hope, a 13 year-old girl. And what she discovers is even more stunning: everything in the real world is not what it seems to be. In fact, it never has been.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author Notes:**_

_**HEY GUYS!** Welcome to my** new Doctor Who fanfic!**_

_I **really** hope you like it! I had the idea during a dream... _

_Don't forget to leave your **reviews**, so that I know what you think about the story._

_**See ya!**_

_**xoxo ;)**_

_**...**_

_**...**_

"You must believe me" River said, close to the door. "Nothing there was real. We're just memories."

"But HOW can it be?!" The Doctor raised his voice, taking a step towards her.  
"I'm sorry, love, but I had to-"  
"RIVER!"  
River didn't even have time to react to Clara's warning. She felt a blow to her back, that, by the sound, was lethal. Her white dress was stained with red on her hips sides as she fell, helpless, to the ground.

...

Hardwood's Orphanage was close to the main avenue. It was not a big town, so the building was its only shelter for parentless children.  
Those kids were treated well, but they were confused. Imagine, if you grew up without knowing the real reason why you were abandoned. Some said they weren't loved; but people would argue, saying that those parents didn't have how to take care of them. Others happened to die. Although that was true for some of them, it didn't make things better.  
Once in a while, grown ups would come and take a look at the children, who were not many, by the way: 20, at most. Almost all of them left the place at the age of 10 or under; but that didn't happen with one girl in particular.  
Her name was Hope. She was 13 and still lived there because, for some reason, no one wished to adopt her. What did she have that was so bad?! Curly, dark hair, brown eyes, and a skin pale as a dead body - that was the comparison she always made; and maybe, according to her, the reason was that everybody thought she was dead.  
Her story was a little different, too. According to her documents, she had no parents; no one at all. Not even dead ones. Her life didn't make any sense; it was as if she was put there artificially.

Everyday, she would walk back from school and go to the Walmart that was located in the middle of the way back. She had started doing it 3 years before; because of a show that was on the on sale TVs. It was funny, touching and exciting; about a man called The Doctor, that, with his time machine, could travel around time and space. Some people would choose to run away with him; and keep running until something happened and they settled down. This show was called "Doctor Who".  
But it was not just a show for her: it was a whole different universe, to where she could travel and have the greatest of adventures; she could run away from her boring life. Martin, the guy who used to supervise that area, noticed that she was going there almost everyday to watch it; so he started to put the episodes in chronological order. She began to watch the first season from the start, and then the second, until she had watched the whole 7 seasons, as the episodes were released.  
One day, after she had finished the last season, she was walking into the place to thank Martin for letting her watch it; but she found another man instead: Ben, his best friend.  
"Hey curly." He said with a smile. That was how they used to call her.  
"Hey Ben... Have you seen Martin?"  
"Nope. He's sick today so I'm in charge of this area. Can I help you?"  
"No, that's fine, I just wanted to talk to him, but I can do it tomorrow. Thank you."  
She started to walk away, but he interrupted her.  
"Oi, wait there! Someone left a package for you."  
She raised an eyebrow. How could someone have sent it to her and to the Walmart instead of the Orphanage?  
"Now come here, will you? A woman came here earlier and left this. She said it was a special episode of Doctor W-"  
She jumped and ran towards him.  
"Really?! new?!"  
"Yes..." He said, curved backwards. "New."  
"Hold on... How do I know that's not a bomb? Or... A poisonous powder?"  
He sighted. "Fine, I'll open it for you."  
Ben took only some seconds to open the little package and took a DVD box out of it.  
"See?" He said, opening the DVD box. "Nothing that could possibly kill you."  
Hope stood there with her arms crossed, trying to hide her excitement. But she finally gave it up and accepted the "gift".  
"Do you want me to put it on?"  
"No, thanks. Gonna watch it later, on the Orphanage telly." She ran towards the door and shouted: "THANKS AGAIN!"  
Ben laughed a little and got back to work.

Hope arrived at the Main Room late that night. It was the only place at Hardwood's that had a television. At night there was no one there, so she could watch whatever she wished to.  
With a few silent steps, until she reached the end of the corridor, the DVD box danced between her fingers and palm, waiting to be watched. The girl turned the whole equipment on quickly and put the disk in the player.  
An image appeared right away. It was the Eleventh Doctor talking to Clara, his current companion.  
"But what if you want to show up somewhere by surprise?" She said.  
"What about it?"  
"You just can't! The Tardis is a police phone box that appears out of nowhere doing the BRRR noise, there's NO way you could come in unnoticed. Besides, the phone box thing is a disguise only in Britain. If you see one of those in the middle of the desert-"  
"What point are you trying to make?!"  
"You should fix that noise thing, at least. Hasn't anyone been able to do that?"  
The doctor looked at her eyes, sadly.  
"Yes... Well, once. A while ago."  
They stopped for a moment.  
"What's that smell?-"  
"THE SUFLE!" She shouted, running down the stairs.  
But what was funny about it, was that there was no songs, no special noises, no change in the camera angle: it was as if Hope was watching it live, with a hidden camera or something.  
The Doctor was about to go after Clara, but he stopped and stared at the camera. Exactly, at the 'camera' or at Hope, who was watching the scene.  
"Clara..."  
"Busy!"  
"Come here right now!"  
"Now stop shouting, will you? I'm trying to focus-"  
"Clara!"  
There was a noise of metal facing the ground.  
"You made me drop it!" She said as she walked back to where the Doctor was standing. "I can't-"  
She stopped where she was. A few feet away from her, there was a kind of white circle, showing the image of a girl.  
"There's a portal inside the Tardis."  
"There's a portal inside the Tardis." He repeated right away.  
"Is that even possible?"  
The Doctor just gestured at the portal, making his answer obvious. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at it for some seconds; and looked at his gadget closely, analyzing whatever appeared there.  
While it happened, Hope kept on watching it, thinking it was one of those scenes where the Doctor interacted with the public.  
"It has massive energy." He said, quickly. "The vital waves are strong, the portal is white, there's light coming from it, which means the girl's image we're seeing is what's happening there right-"  
Suddenly, the machine started to shake violently, and the atmosphere grew darker.  
"What's the matter with you?!" Clara shouted at the roof. She was, indeed, taking to the Tardis.  
"Paradox. She's sensing a sort of a paradox!"  
"Here?!"  
There were sparks coming out of everywhere, and there's no way they could close the mysterious portal.  
The Doctor held Clara's hand and shouted for her to run; then, they ran towards the portal, running through it, and falling faced-down on the ground.  
Clara started laughing. "We fell."  
"But not on the same ground."  
She raised her head and noticed her friend had already seen what she hadn't until that moment.  
Right in front of them, there was a girl with pale skin and black hair. The look in her eyes was of a person that had just seen somebody come back from the dead.  
And in fact, it was almost the same thing.


	2. Chapter 2

"You... You jumped out of my telly!"

Hope was staring at that man, that looked a lot like the main character of her favorite TV show.

The Doctor turned around and looked at the tv.

"Interesting..."

"Who are you?!"

"I'm the Doctor."

"No, you're not."

Clara and him exchanged looks.

"Where are we, exactly?" Clara asked her.

"An orphanage, England... Wait, why am I saying that, you're supposed to know! And you didn't answer my question."

"I told you. I'm the Doctor."

"No. You're not." She said, mimicking him.

Clara thought for a moment. "Wait, but how could we end up here?"

"I don't know."

She widened her eyes at his answer.

"Well... That scares me."

"I'm gonna ask you one last time..."

They turned their heads to the girl and saw she had a baseball bat in her hands.

"Who. Are. You?!"

They stared at her. But who the hell were they? It's impossible for someone to simply jump out of a screen.

"Is it a joke? It's all set up, right?" She raised it higher. "It's a bloody trick."

"Okay..." The Doctor lowered his hands slowly as Clara took a step back. "No violence, right?"

"Answer me."

"Listen." Clara said. "We don't know how we ended up here, and that thing is certainly not gonna help."

"But you can't be you..." She lowered the bat. "I'm going mad."

"Ha" The Doctor clapped his hands once and pointed at her. "Now we're getting somewhere."

She stood there, speechless, while the man pointed his gadget to the portal. She was about to insist in the trick theory, but the expression on his face made her, for some reason, shiver.

Clara looked at him. "Doctor? What's w-"

"RUN!" He grabbed Clara's hand and raised Hope, putting her over his shoulder, and ran as fast as he could. Five seconds passed by: a fire explosion came from the portal.

The place was on fire. The Doctor put her down and held her face in both of his hands.

"Are you alone here?!"

"There're children sleeping up there!" That was the answer he got, and was enough to make him race upstairs, followed by the two girls.

"Clara, call the firemen!" The Doctor told her.

"Done it, no need to ask."

Hope ran to the bedroom. There was one bed per person, in two lines; so she woke each one of them up, along with the duo, shaking their arms in quick moves. And when someone would ask her what was happening, she would say "there's a fire, quickly!"

The Doctor leaded the way as they followed him; and Hope told him that Hannah, the woman who took care of them was still asleep. He ran upstairs to the third floor and woke the woman up. They managed to get out of the place right at the moment when the firemen arrived.

The children, tired and confused, watched as the men tried to put out the fire. Everything happened so fast; but no one was as confused as Hope.

Hannah was talking to a man and came towards her, with a sad face.

"Hope, my dear..." She said, as some tears formed in her eyes. "They managed to put out the fire, but unfortunately... Your- I mean- bed... Is..." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Burnt. I'm sorry."

The girl didn't know how to react. The things she put on her bedside table and under her bed were her only goods. And they were gone. Everything seemed to spin around.

She felt water coming from her eyes and ran away, even though she heard people calling her name. All she wanted to do at the moment was to simply disappear.

She kept on running and hid behind a wall.

...

...

Clara searched for her Doctor everywhere; and she ended up finding him sitting on the ground on a street corner, behind a wall, with his hands on his face. He had been sitting like this for a while; he could not believe in what just happened. He just couldn't.

She took a few steps and sat by his side. As soon as she did, the Doctor broke down.

"She's dead." He said. "The Tardis, Clara, is DEAD. Not even a body left... She... I'm rubbish at keeping people safe."

"No... You kept me safe."

"You died a hundred times trying to save me." He took a deep breath and rested his head on the wall. "I'm sorry Clara. I am so sorry... But we're trapped here. Trapped in this place- in this constant and linear time line- And I almost killed those children- RAA!" He screamed and turned around, punching the wall afterwards.

Clara felt a shiver when he said that; cause now there was no way back. At least, he thought so; although she knew he could always find a way back, in the end.

There was a moment of silence, until she finally spoke.

"No one is all perfect, you know."

"And now, because of me, you're stuck here."

Clara wrapped her arm around his. "At least, we're together. And I'm sure you'll find a way."

"No way..."

They turned their heads to where the third voice came from.

"It's really you..." Hope said, with a red face - it was clear that she had been crying. "How...?"

"What do you _mean_?" Said the Doctor, with a tired voice.

"You don't... Know?"

"No."

"Really? The show... About you..."

The Doctor and Clara stared at her, for the second time that night.

"Sorry... What?" Clara asked.

"There's a show that is about your lives. About everything that has ever happened to you."

He shook his head. "Listen, I don't think-"

"But YOU ARE. Why do you think I didn't believe when you told me who you were?!"

"But is that even possible?" Clara turned to Eleven.

He took a while to answer. "Have no idea."

"Okay, second time today, not good... Hey," she looked at Hope. "what is this 'show' like?"

The girl got down on her knees in front of them. She took a brief look at the DVD box she had brought. She pointed at the Doctor. "People call you 'The Doctor' but no one actually knows your real name. You're the last of your kind and travel around time and space in your spaceship called the TARDIS. During your life, you've traveled with many people, including Sarah Jane, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Captain Jack, Donna Noble, Amy and Rory, River, and now, Clara."

She stopped when she saw that his facial expression had changed. "Is that enough?"

He nodded, with his jaw half dropped.

"Wait, but you remember the things that happened here?" Clara asked her. "Like, the invasions?"

"Actually..." She closed one eye and curved her mouth. "Those things only happened on the show. We still haven't found any alien forms of life yet-"

"What?!" He got to his feet. "No aliens?"

"Nope."

"It's just like you are living in a different reality, isolated from the rest of this universe."

"Or the opposite..." Clara said, laughing quietly. But then he looked at her seriously and she stopped laughing immediately.

"Or the opposite." He repeated.

Suddenly, he felt something weird inside his pocket. It was coming from the psychic paper; and when he looked at it, it was an address.

"Is it... An address?" Clara asked.

"Yes, it is." The Doctor said. "With a message: 'Please, come, my love. There's something you should know'. There's only one person in this whole universe that could send me such a thing."

His companion smiled at him.

"Uh, can I ask you something?" Hope said, raising her index finger.

"Can I go with you?"

He sighed. "Listen, it is too dangerous-"

"I know, remember? I know people die, I know they get hurt. But... I need this, I need... I need you to help me, please. I want some adventure!"

"No, I can't let you come, I'm sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

They walked on the sidewalk, the three of them, and Hope was talking, talking, talking...

"... I absolutely LOVED when you showed up by surprise at that base, that was spectacular- Oh! And when you figured out Captain Jack was the Face of Boe, THAT was unexpected- Do you remember when you almost married Marilyn Monroe- Or did you marry her, I can't really tell- Do you know what I really loved? The Silence! They were creepy and scary but it was simply amazing the way they made you forget-"

"Oi!" He grabbed her arms. "Don't you ever breathe?!"

Clara laughed; and Hope continued. "My name is Hope, by the way. And I'm sorry... It's just that I'm REALLY excited..."

"I can imagine." Clara said, smiling. We're your favorite characters..." She stopped. "That still sounds strange."

"And... Here."

They stood in front of an old building.

"Doctor, are you sure?" Clara asked him.

His eyes searched the place for some seconds, until he noticed something.

"Yes, we're at the right place."

"How-"

He pointed at the wall. There were many words written on it; and when they got closer, they could read what he had seen:

"BAD WOLF"

The Doctor was serious and tense. Clara stared at the wall, trying to make a sense out of it. And Hope's smile was bigger than her face could carry.

"THAT'S CRAZY! BAD WOLF, HERE?! OH MY GOD, THAT'S... That's..." He glared at her. "That's really really really really... Bad."

"C'mon." Clara walked to a little entrance to the building.

"Clara..." The Doctor said. "There's a Bad Wolf sign over here, I have no idea what's inside that place but I'm sure it's not good at all. And dangerous, really dangerous. Bad Wolf means the end of the universe."

"No duh... Lost count of how many times the universe ended." She smiled and got inside. They had no choice but to follow her.

...

...

The Doctor walked in that mysterious room. The atmosphere was considerably darker from the outside; so it took a while for him to adjust his eyes. When he did, both of his hearts beat faster.

Clara and Hope got there seconds after he did; and they had the same reaction.

The room was practically made of computer screens. Hundreds of them covered the walls; and there was a table in the center, with an empty chai and a computer on it.

"Hello sweetie."

The Doctor froze at those words. He turned around slowly, to find Clara staring stunned at a woman, while Hope was covering her mouth with her hand, and her eyes were wide open.

The woman smiled at the Doctor, tear-eyed; and so did he.

"River..." He walked towards her, looking at her straight at her eyes.

She put a hand on his cheek and, slowly, approached her mouth to his, kissing his lips gently.

The Doctor suddenly pulled away, gesturing with his fingers. "Wait, where are you?" He asked, pointing at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... When are you?"

"Oh... You left me in the library system."

"So you're not exactly in this world."

"Neither are you."

The Doctor stopped. His face became really serious as he laid his head to one side, as he used to do.

"What?"

"This world is the real one. Our universe was virtual."

"There's no way-"

"You must believe me" River said, close to the door. "Nothing there was real. We're just memories."

"But _how_ can it be?!" The Doctor raised his voice, taking a step towards her.

"I'm sorry, love, but I had to-"

"RIVER!"

River didn't even have time to react to Clara's warning. She felt a blow to her back, that, by the sound, was lethal. Her white dress was stained with red on her hips sides as she fell, helpless, to the ground. And behind her, there was a man, with crazy and hungry eyes, holding a bloody knife.

The Doctor couldn't react for a moment. He saw his wife laid down on her own blood and then looked at the man. Suddenly, he was possessed with an anger and pain bigger than he could take.

"You KILLED HER!" He ran towards the man and raised him from the ground, making him drop the knife. He punched the man's face.

"KILLED HER! KILLED HER! YOU KILLED MY WIFE!" He was crying and shouting uncontrollably.

Clara was crying, watching as her friend lost control. She looked down at River, and so did Hope, who was also sobbing.

And when they did, they saw that River blinked an eye at them.

After a while, the Doctor looked at his hands, ashamed. Part of the anger had gone away and he saw what he did: the man's face was covered with blood.

He let him go, breathless.

"Now you see, Doctor?" The man said, smiling. "How it is to feel like a human being?"

"Why did you kill her?"

"She would have revealed our secret. Our plan. And I must do it quickly so, if you excuse me..."

While he was walking to the table, suddenly, there was a noise of metal hitting something. He stopped for a moment, when everyone thought he'd fall; but he turned around to face Hope, holding a piece of metal.

"Oh you..." He was about to approach her, but Clara jumped on his back, bitting his shoulder and putting her fingers in his eyes. He screamed, annoyed.

The Doctor ran to the main computer, to put an end to anything that man was planning to do. He pointed his screwdriver to the machine, to get some answers, but it was worthless.

...

...

Amy Pond was chopping vegetables at her kitchen in New York. Of course, at a different time, since they were captured by the Weeping Angels. She heard the door being unlocked and it opened, revealing to be Rory.

"Hey stupid face" she said.

He approached and wrapped his arms around her waist. She turned her head to the side to kiss him.

"What are you doing?" He asked her.

"Something new."

He pulled back with an eyebrow raised.

"Should I be scared?"

"Why?! Just because we don't have microwaves or anything like that it doesn't mean I can't cook."

He hid his lips with his mouth and looked above. "If you say so..."

"Shut it, Williams."

"I'm just saying, Pond."

Both of them stopped for a moment, sighing afterwards. That's how the Doctor used to call her. She looked at him sadly; and he hugged her.

"It's alright." She said. "It's just..."

"I know. It seems unbelievable, but I miss him too. I miss my family. But this is our life now..."

Amy smiled. "Yeah..." Rory kissed her head.

"Listen... I... Have been feeling something weird."

Rory looked at her, sort of confused and scared of what this conversation would lead to.

"Sometimes, I feel like we have a daughter."

"But... We do."

"No, not River. Another one. I know I can't have children, but I feel like there's someone missing, you know? Like this person used to be here but now they're gone and all we feel are echoes they left. Do you know what I mean?"

His mouth was half open. He didn't know what to say.

"Forget it... It's just a silly thing."

"Actually" he said. "Maybe it's not. Remember? You are the girl who notices when things are out of place. Maybe it's a sign."

Then, suddenly, something really odd happened: out of nowhere, a white portal opened on their living room.

They kept on hugging each other, staring scared at the portal.

"Ok." Amy said. "Now you should be scared."

The thing became strong as a hurricane, acting like a vacuum. They hang on the table, but it was too strong; and Rory went flying to its direction, being sucked by it.

"C'mon!" Amy shouted. Now there was just one way she could get to Rory. And she knew that.

"I wonder if one day I'll stop chasing after you!"

She let go and fell to the ground. But it wasn't the same one.

Amelia raised her head to find herself lying on a sidewalk, with Rory by her side.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, a little dizzy.

"Uh- yeah- I guess..."

They stood up; and realized they were in front of an old building, looking abandoned. Amy felt a weird sensation.

"Oi!" She grabbed his arm. "Don't you feel lighter?"

He looked at his right and then to his left, without moving his head.

"No..."

"I don't know, it's like I lost part of my weigh when I came here."

"Did anything happen...? Cuz-"

"RIVER!" They heard a female voice shout; and looked at each other, alarmed.

"There!" Rory pointed at the building and they ran towards it.


	4. Chapter 4

Amy was about to run inside the room, from where she had heard the fighting sounds. But before she could go in, her way was blocked by a body.

It was River.

Amy felt her world fall apart. She put her hands on her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

Rory reached her and gasped as soon as he saw his daughter on the floor, who was with her eyes closed, dress stained in red.

"No, River..." Amelia whispered and rested her hand on River's face. The world around didn't seem to matter.

She was about to sob. But, suddenly, a hand came to Amy's mouth to shut it up. And what frightened her the most was that this hand was River's.

"Hello, mother." She said, ignoring the expression of fear on Amy's face. "Shut it, now. Just come with me."

"But... Doctor Song..." Rory began, when he saw what had just happened. "You..."

"I know. I might explain it later but you've got to help me."

The three of them got to their feet, and River leaded the way to the back of the room.

...

...

The Doctor was still trying to find answers. He typed quickly but it was all worthless.

Suddenly, a woman with blonde, curly hair got in his way, pushing him to the side with her hips. She started to type on the keyboard immediately, while the Doctor stared at her, in shock.

Meanwhile, Hope and Clara were beating the man up. Or, at least, trying to distract him.

The Doctor was about to shout at River, but she shut him up, still looking at the computer screen.

"Shh, sorry, but shut up. Yes I'm okay, I'm not even real, I couldn't be killed. Psycho blood, good trick. Now, I'm trying to help you, all of you, there something you must kn-"

"You were DEAD. River. River, look at me!"

She stopped and looked at him.

He was serious. "You. Were. Dead."

"You did this to me once remember? This time, you weren't able to save me either. But you are completely forgiven. And I ask you for forgiveness as well."

He didn't answer. She turned around and kept on typing.

The man managed to throw Hope and Clara on the ground. The Doctor ran towards him. The man picked the knife from the ground, without noticing River's absence. He was about to hurt them; but he felt a blow, really strong blow, to his head. And that one was able to make him fall, unconscious, to the ground.

When the noise of it echoed around the room, everyone stopped and looked at the ones who did this: Amy and Rory, each one with a piece of wood.

"Well" Amy said, looking at the ground, breathless. "That was pretty badass."

The Doctor stared at her. She looked like a dream. The same red hair and brown eyes that were taken away by the Weeping Angels were there, right in front of him.

"Amelia Pond..." He said, smiling.

She noticed he was there. Her Doctor was back.

"Raggedy man!"

She ran towards him to his embrace; and they stayed like this for a while.

Rory raised a hand. "Husband."

"Mr. Pond!" The Doctor hugged him too.

She rested her palm on his cheek. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Clara was sitting on the ground, happy. Hope was freaking out.

"OH MY GOD... AMY POND!"

Amy smiled a little, confused. "Yes..."

The girl stood up and shook her hand many times. "I'm like your BIGGEST fan EVER!" She looked at the husband and did the same with him. "AND RORY! I love you two SO MUCH!"

"Sorry... What's happening here?"

"Long story." The Doctor answered him.

"But I can make it short."

Everyone turned their heads to River.

"I'm still not talking to you." The Doctor said, looking at the roof.

She laughed. "Get over it."

"I never will." He walked towards her slowly as he talked.

"You're weaker than I thought."

"Maybe weakness is not what this is."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes."

"What's it, then?"

"Guys!" Rory shouted, when they were a feet away from each other.

"You're gonna keep on flirting or someone's gonna explain WHAT exactly is going on right now?!"

"I agree with him." Hope said, smiling. "Not that I don't like watching you flirting with each other." She poked Clara and whispered, excited. "I've just agreed with Rory Williams!"

Clara raised her thumb and smiled in return.

River grinned. "Well... I found what I was looking for. But first, could anyone tie that man up please? Thank you. Husband, come here. Do you guys see those televisions? They are monitors that show live images of a particular world."

She clicked a button and, all of a sudden, the TVs turned on, each one of them with a different image.

"Rose..." The raggedy man whispered when he saw his friend walking side by side with his human version. She had her arms wrapped around his and, suddenly, he lowered his head, held her chin with his hand and kissed her lips. They stopped and kissed for a few seconds, and then walked again.

On another, there was Captain Jack Harkness, at a pub, talking to a friend. But he wasn't the happy, flirty Jack. He was, for some reason, sad. Also, Martha Jones and Mickey. Sarah Jane and her son, having dinner. Donna and her husband. And she was clearly pregnant. Lots, lots of screens, showing what all the people the Doctor knew were doing at that moment.

"Our world has been monitored. The universe we've been living in is artificial. Look:" she pointed at some info on the computer. "It says 'created in the 1960s'."

"Wait..." Clara said. "So you're saying our universe was created? We were put in there? And how on earth do you know that?"

"I'm inside a computer, remember?"

"Inside a computer?" Amy asked.

"Yes, I'm... 'Dead'." She answered to her mother.

"What?!"

"I'll explain it later. I'm inside a virtual world, which means I'm able to travel between computers. And our entire universe is a computer. So I was able to get out of there and ended up here. Discovering the secret: you, Doctor, was trapped there with all of us; to save this world from alien danger. Our fates were manipulated, by anyone who had control over this system. Oh, but there's more. We're not real. We're memories. We're what would have happened here if the virtual universe had never been created. And there's a human person who looks like each one of us, here. Famous people, actors, who think they are stars of a TV show, while they were just rehearsing what had already happened inside our world. And that's when you come, Hope."

Hope turned her head to River, quickly. "Me?"

"You're just like Amy. Your life doesn't make sense. It seems you were put in this life artificially, right?"

She nodded, a kind of scared.

"You are a crack in the system. An error. You escaped from there, but wasn't able to get to your human brain. You're a memory, traveling among atoms."

"How do you-"

"It's all here." She gestured to the computer screen.

Hope looked at the floor. "I... Have a family. I have a home."

"Back there, yes." She smiled. "But here, you're not yourself. You're a different person."

"But why are you telling us this?" Amy asked.

"Someone was planning to turn our universe off. All the aliens, all that would have happened would be erased. And we'd all die."

"Why?"

"Cause it's getting too heavy." They turned around to the place where the tired voice came from. The man, tied up on the ground.

"For this world to be safe, we couldn't keep your little universe anymore. And I's given orders to shut it down."

River raised an eyebrow. "Who gave you such orders?"

He didn't say anything. She picked up the knife he had dropped and pointed at him.

"River..." The Doctor said right away, in a cautious tone.

"Who gave you such orders? Don't make me repeat it a third time."

"My... Superiors."

"River..."

"Husband, shut up."

"River!"

"What?!"

She turned around and saw the Doctor was with his sleeve on his elbow: and on his bare arm, there were lots and lots of marks, made with a black pen.

She looked down at hers, and there they were. The marks went from her wrist to her elbow.

They were not alone.


	5. Chapter 5

"They're here..."

River looked around. And so did the rest of them, but no sign of danger.

"Everyone is breaking out of the system." The Doctor said.

"But why can't we just restore everyone's memories?" Clara asked.

"This universe would fall apart. There are people in it who think they're actors in this show, and if we restore their memories, media and the monetary global system would break down... Cause, probably, they would not want to be actors anymore. They would become us." He put a hand on his face and rubbed it, frustrated and tired. "It's just a matter of time until all life forms we know in our universe travel across the web line and get here."

There was a pause. The Doctor paced forwards and backwards, thinking about the situation. No matter how they wanted to make those people remember, they couldn't. They had to find a way to go back.

"But they were never in." The man said, and laughed sickly, madly. "Ah... They were never in. My family..."

They were silent for a while. Suddenly, Hope slapped her own forehead.

"Of course! Oh my God..."

"Hope, not a right time to fangirl..." Clara said.

"Don't you see? The Silence made this! It's on the prophecy. 'Silence will fall when the question is asked'."

"'The oldest question in the universe'..." Rory completed.

"The show is called 'Doctor Who'." She said.

The Doctor widened his eyes. "Oh... Oh! This world is a modified version of ours, which was formed when this question was asked! It's the oldest question in it. The oldest question in our universe."

"And when they did this, this world became silent, calm." River said. "Silence fell..."

He looked at her.

"Stop it." She said.

"What?"

"That 'she's so pretty when she's clever' face."

"That's not my face right now."

"You have that face..."

"Guys..." Amy said. "Flirting. Again."

"Uh... Doctor..." Clara's voice sounded shaky, scared. They turned around, and gasped.

Behind them, there were the silence creatures, pointing their fingers at them. And now they couldn't take their eyes out of them, otherwise they would forget about them again.

Hope couldn't move. "So now what?"

"We must find a way to go back. Something that opens a door between the two universes." River said.

And that's when Hope got it. She took the DVD box out of the inside of her pants. "_A woman left this for you_." Ben had said.

River, somehow, knew the girl would be able to fix it all up. Maybe, because she was the error; and she was the only one who could make a connection to the system. Like a magnet.

"What exactly is this DVD, River?" She asked, quietly, getting closer to her.

She smiled and whispered back. "It's a portal opener. It can be to wherever you want. Bet you know what to do with it. Only you can infiltrate the system like this. You're closer to there than we all are."

Hope walked patiently to the computer. As soon as she clicked a button, the creatures began to fire their lightnings. She put the CD inside the PC and closed it.

A white circle appeared right away, sucking everything around it. First, the creatures were the ones who couldn't hang on anything, so they went inside it. The man tied up as well.

"ARE YOU SURE I HAVE A FAMILY?!" Hope shouted, as the room was like a hurricane, and she could hang on something. Everyone did.

"YES!" River answered. "THIS IS YOUR BEST CHANCE!"

The Doctor spoke. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"GIVING HER A LIFE!"

Hope looked around. She smiled.

"Geronimo." She said, more to herself than to anyone. She let go of the table and was sucked by the circle.

"WE MUST GO!" He said.

Amy looked at him. "See you around, Raggedy man..." She said, more quietly now.

"See you around, Ponds."

She let go, and so did Rory.

River began to type again. "Done!"

"What?!"

"This system's time line can be manipulated! You shouldn't bother with fixed points in time anymore...! Now we can go!" She looked at her husband. "Till the next time, Doctor!"

"Wait! The Tardis...!"

"What about it?!"

"She's dead!"

"Don't you think that, if she was really dead, I would have felt it?!"

He smiled; and began to talk more quietly, getting closer to River.

"I will miss you."

"Don't be stupid, you know I'm everywhere."

"Actually, maybe I'll turn you into a video game character."

River shook her head. "I so hate you."

"No, you don't."

She blew him a kiss and he blinked an eye at her. Then, she let go and was sucked by the white portal. Clara did the same and, when there was no one left, the Doctor let his hands go of the place he was hanging on.

"GERONIMO!" He shouted, as he flew back to his world.

...

...

Thursday morning, not a very special one. For the people in that little town, it was indeed a bad one.

Hope disappeared. And after months looking for her, they declared her dead.

Back in their work, Martin and Ben were fixing some things on the system. Not happy at all.

"Why did she have to go?" Martin asked, suddenly.

"C'mon, mate. It's been 2 months. And, besides... People come, people go. There's nothing we can do a... Bout... It..."

Silence. "What?" Martin asked.

"She... Oh my God."

"What?!"

Martin raced to his friend's computer. Hope was live, on a kind of web cam. But there was no program playing it. They were about to shout.

"Don't say anything! I'm fine. I'm happy. I know, it's been a while but it was difficult to make a connection. Yes, I ran away, yes I'm sorry. But I wanted to thank you for making my life better. I wasn't able to do that. I may be away, but you'll always be with me. Thank you."

"But where are you?!" Martin asked. "Curly... Everyone thinks you're dead."

"You would never believe if I told you..." She said; and he noticed a blue police phone box behind her. "I need you to do something for me. I'll send you an address. Go there, and you'll find a computer. That thing is, literally, my life; you must take care of it, please. Don't let anyone ever touch it. There's a way to set a perception filter, so that normal people don't notice the place. Can you please, please do that? For me?"

Both of them smiled. "Of course, Curly." Martin said.

He followed the steps she had put to him. After he had gone in there and done what she had asked, he came back to the street, where Ben was waiting for him.

"So... Do you believe? I mean... In the place she's right now?

He smiled. "Maybe."

"Where?" Ben asked. "Where is she?!"

Martin put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Home."

...

...

Hope turned the computer off.

"Dinner!" She heard her mother call.

"I'm going."

She looked at the panel with the TARDIS painted on it. When she came back, she remembered about everything in her life in that world. She, indeed, had a family. She was parentless until she was five; and then a couple adopted her. They lived at a flat in New York, but at a different time: 1970s.

She walked into the living room.

Amy was putting her plate on the table. "Yours is there."

"Thanks, mom."

The three of them, Amy, Rory and Hope sat down to eat.

"First, shall we pray?" Hope said.

Amy smiled and they held hands.

"Hey Santa. It's us." The girl began. "We wanted to thank you for this supper. And for all the love we're able to share. No emergency, but... My lantern is broken. If you could send someone to help us... It could be a janitor, a police man, or..."

The three of them heard the familiar noise.

Amy smiled at the window, as the blue box flew to the sidewalk. "Welcome back, raggedy man."

...

...

_**Author Notes**__:_

_Thank you guys for reading till the end! I really hope you liked it._

_It was weird, cuz I didn't know how DW fanfics were popular. I wrote another two fanfics, about Kim Possible and American Dragon; and in this fic it took me two weeks to reach a bigger number of followers than any other story I published months ago. I'm surprised... O.o_

_But anyway, I really hope you enjoyed it; please, leave your reviews so that I know your opinion or if the story has any problems. _

_And I also have a tumblr blog: MyWonderfulDaydreams_

_Thanks again for reading! _

_See ya soon ;)_

_xoxo_


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